Muharrem İnce

Voters have been applying to the relevant district election boards since March 22 to sign in favor of presidential candidates that need at least 100,000 signatures to run at the May 14 polls. The signature process will continue until March 27.

A woman walks past a picture of Turkish opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader and presidential candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu in Diyarbakir, Turkey, 20 March 2023. Photo: EPA-EFE/SEDAT SUNA

"We will not nominate a candidate in the presidential elections," the Labour and Freedom Alliance said.

The Homeland Party has nominated its chairman Muharrem İnce as the presidential candidate amid growing pressure from the opposition alliance for supporting the joint candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, leader of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP).

A politician who once ran as a presidential challenger to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, formed a new political party on May 17, months after he broke away from Turkey's main opposition party.

Muharrem Ince, 56, formally applied to the Interior Ministry to establish the Memleket Partisi, or Homeland Party, and was immediately chosen as its chairman.

Teoman Sancar, a member of the parliament from the ranks of the Republican People's Party (CHP), has resigned from his party following the resignation of three lawmakers in the past weeks.

Muharrem İnce, a veteran politician from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) who ran for presidency in 2018 but lost against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has resigned from his party and vowed to form his own political party after a long-term conflict with CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.

Turkey has both a government and an opposition problem and needs to exit this current political stalemate, Muharrem İnce, a former main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) presidential candidate and a party dissident, has said, announcing the launch of his "Motherland Movement in 1,000 days" as an alternative to existing political parties.

Muharrem Ince, a senior name in Turkey's main opposition social democratic Republican People's Party, CHP, did well as his party's presidential candidate in 2018 against Turkish strongman Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

He lost the election in the first round but created a new energy in the opposition ranks after polling a respectable 31 per cent of the votes.

The in-house debate in the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) continues over the dissident's demand to change the party administration as the CHP leader voiced his criticism to Muharrem İnce, who has lead the dissidents following his presidential candidacy. 

Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) lawmaker Yaşar Tüzün said the number of CHP delegates who have signed to bring the party to extraordinary congress have exceeded the sufficient number of signatures to challenge CHP chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu's leadership by defeated presidential candidate Muharrem İnce.